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| Taryn Manning |
Welcome to the recap series on the third season of the Jenji Kohan Netflix hit Orange is the New Black. Over the next few weekends (Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays) we will be looking through the episodes and highlighting the events that make this comedy/drama a stand-out in general TV. Does the series have what it takes to make another phenomenal season of TV, and can the tales of Piper Chapman and her inmates satisfy expansion? Stay tuned and make sure to follow along at your own pace.
Litchfield is back in business and it's time to celebrate Mother's Day. Everyone gets ready as the inmates anticipate a fun afternoon with their families while recalling early childhood memories. Red (Kate Mulgrew) is finishing off the last few strands of Vee's existence. Piper (Taylor Schilling) is surprised to see that Alex (Laura Prepon) is back, and more bruised than regular. Pennsatucky (Taryn Manning) mourns the abortions that she had before being cheered up by Big Boo (Lea DeLaria). Sophia (Laverne Cox) meets her son, but his mother refuses to show up. As everyone gets adjusted, things go awry when one child goes missing, causing a lockdown that immediately ruins everyone's good time. With a lot of topics still on the table from last year's finale, it is shaping up to be a season full of shocking revelations.
MVP:
Pennsatucky (Taryn Manning)
In one of the broadest episodes to date, it is hard to really define one the MVP. Everyone is pretty much being introduced and has to share the hour running time in ways that range from memorable to simply expository. However, among the more noteworthy performances of the episodes is the return of Pennsatucky, whose mixture of absurd humor that opens the episode and drinking a whole bottle of Mountain Dew before going into Child Services, equals enough of her more memorable moments. However, it is inevitably the disconnect that she has from her peers on Mother's Day. Not because she is infertile, but because she is sinful. She is the conflicted mother figure who over the course of the episode goes from comedic to sympathetic in ways that she hasn't been in the past. While the real MVP is all of the mothers at Litchfield, there's very few as memorable as Pennsatucky.
Flashback
It was a shared week in which various inmates looked back on their lives with their mothers. While some were more innocent like Pennsatucky's, where she neglectfully drank Mountain Dew, others ranged from delirious mother wanting to dance, to bright prospects of the future. The moments were fleeting and almost existed more as transitional segments than any big substantial plot device. This doesn't make it bad - in fact, it's kind of sweet - but there's not a whole lot to say about it.
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| Top to bottom: Laverne Cox and Yael Stone |
Overall Thoughts
With the show coming off of a phenomenal second season, it makes sense for them to want to start things off gently. There isn't a whole lot that happens here that makes it one of the best nor does it feel like a great introduction to what's likely to come. Yes, we get a few traces of ongoing plots and the continuity makes this show better. However, it still is a very nice episode with a various look at what role mothers play in our lives as well as the notion of what they mean behind bars. It may not have been the only thing explored, but it was a unifying theme that brought us a lot of great moments, funny and sad, and reminded us as to why we have been rooting for these characters all along. It may be somewhat of a nonstarter episode, but it still has enough charisma to be entertaining.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
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